Magic Before Dusk
by NeeC311
Summary: How does it to feel that you are going to die in a matter of days for a crime you can't remember committing. Brady Black has knowledge of this feeling having been accused to murdering his fiancee.
1. A Wish

Magic Before Dusk  
Prologue  
  
  
  
  
  
  
It was as if it were a dream. A horrid dream that no nightmare could flame no light to. A darkened path which outlined so many twists and misunderstandings that led to where it had become.  
  
The clocked stopped and slowed down so that he could remember. Remember how he got this far in a situation of mistaken identity. And just having been in the wrong place at the wrong time. To still be in love with a dead woman whose death was the cause of where he stood. Or may it have simply been the past that had him facing death row. Sentenced to know the burden of never knowing the truth and be prosecuted for a crime he hadn't committed. With realization, his mind flashed, it flashed like the moments of rapid movement to the final impact of a car crash. Coming all back to him.  
  
"It doesn't look good for him," a voice whispered to someone besides them.  
  
A kind voice that was faintly remembered. His mind was blurred with visions of the night that begin these days of turmoil. He heard the your girl speak so softly and tried so hard to remember it. Why wasn't it he could put a face to it? Why was he trying to block it? It was something so innocent about the voice that made it feel corrupt. The voice underlined what he couldn't remember and why it was he couldn't save himself. Shock still racked his body from the jail cell at night. The wind whispering secrets of that night it happened came to him but images were so blurry. Things were no longer clear anymore. And he even began to believe the prosecutor when she'd say in her closing statement.  
  
"All evidence accounts for points to this young man," she boomed and placed an evil finger to him, "Ladies and Gentlemen of the story, you hold the cards to a game of foul play that led one family to lose their daughter whose future held so much promise. Dreams have become dust! Hopes have become faults! Passion has became anger! And love, what the defense tries to use as it's case. Yes, that four letter word to the four shots to her chest. Those four letters. Love has become HATE and KILL! I ask you, look at this grieving family and group of hurting friends, then look at this young man. Who can't even speak for himself. Look at him, stare at him, then take in the note these are the eyes of a deranged lover turned killer. Stare into his eyes and relive that poor girls horrors as she was brutally shot in the back. Not her physical back, no. By falling in love and having her lover betray her so. Is this the type of young man you want to see on the streets destroying more young girls innocence! Do you!? No, I imagine not. Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, we have present you with a motive, the gun with his finger prints, and the most important thing. In death the girl speaks from the grave, hear her voice and hear the pleads she screamed in blood that night he shot her. Did you hear her? If you hadn't, you heard from her thoughts before the accident. An in depth look at something as personal as her diary. The descriptions of her every movement and daily life of him in it. Looking on to how her body was found, looking past to him being discovered at the scene of the crime with the gun, looking forward to what one policemen overheard him whisper "I killer her", and to look past all this what do you expect to see? Nothing. Nothing should hold you back from finding this young man guilty. Nothing should prevent him from knowing the same lose! Nothing should make you see otherwise as to why there would be any reasonable doubt since the only doubt should have came from the young girl for making such a mistake as to getting involved with this young man! Thank you," she said sweetly but her anger still enthralled into her mind and the power of her words. She meant every bit of it. She held nothing back and most of all she wanted to see him dead.  
  
Having the best lawyer in the world would not save him. He did his best by saying key points as to an alibi, her print's also being on the gun, an eye witness saying they over heard voices next door like two women and hadn't even seen a guy until he showed up, there was so many loops. So many loops that couldn't be filled since there was one piece of the jig missing.  
  
After his lawyer was finished he sat back down and smiled a bright hopeful smile to his client whose eyes were still troubled. The same eyes that seemed not to understand, and by the time he might realize it would be too late.  
  
The jury took only 5 minutes before they came back. Determined to reveal the decision. Would they find reasonable doubt or be bogged down by misunderstandings…  
  
Coming back to reality a tear slipped his eye. His eyes were now open and realization had finally set. His love was dead and for him to have thought it was his fault still confused him. Him being the prime suspect and him being the person sentenced for her death when the real killer remained at large.   
  
Walking away from the mumblings of other prison inmates rattling their bars, he walked to his barred up window and looked to the windows. Wishing upon the nearest star. A glimmer came from behind the moon and that's when he caught one fading. It was about to die but all of a sudden it fell from the sky. Closing his eyes he made a wish. Wishing to remember everything that happened that night, but most importantly wishing to go back in time. Change it or alter the ending. To not have lost her the way he had. With a memory of her body as a constant flash laying on the floor pooled in blood. Tears filtered his closed eyes and seeped past his eye lashes as they bounded down in pacts of three and four to reach his swollen cheeks and dried lips.  
  
Opening them he faced the cold realities of death row life that were ahead of him until he would eventually land on the bed with a lethal injection. And if that didn't work they'd just send him to the chair Texas style. Allowing his brain to cook and throw away the memories of what many assumed were the killing of his girlfriend turned recent fiancée.  
  
  
The memory…  
  
"We the jury find the defendant Brady Victor Black guilty to the murder of Chloe Lane" 


	2. Her Diary

Magic Before Dusk  
Chapter 1  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"It doesn't look good for him," he heard as he slept a peaceful slumber. So at ease in his surroundings. It felt familiar and warm with a coziness that only one place could possess. It was a sense of him being at home. The feeling surrounded his body and made it seem as if it he weren't dream. Then his mind started going to work. 'It doesn't look good for him,' kept flashing in his memory. It was familiar. He remembered hearing it at the trial by someone. But he couldn't place the face and now he could. Though if it was her, how would it be possible for her to be here as he slept in his cell? Had he had an early morning visitor and at some point during his sobs he'd dozed off? Brady rolled over and then processed the fact he hadn't fell of his small prison cot.   
  
Opening his eyes he stared shock. He jumped to a position and stared at where he was. Looking he saw Chloe and Mimi staring wide eyed at his outburst.   
  
Brady swept the room in worried expression. He made it to Chloe and stopped. She was wearing the same dress she wore the day she moved into his place. A sequin deep powder blue dress with spaghetti straps. "Your alive" was the first thing that escaped his mouth as he got up from the bed and began to walk over to Chloe when he noted the amused expression on her face. She blushed a high pink as she tried to get something out.  
  
"Wow, Brady, now I know why Chloe puts a little pep in her step," Mimi laughed out as Chloe slyly punched her. Brady glanced down and jumped for the sheets.  
  
"Sorry," he said embarrassed and sweetly. Chloe spoke up again and smiled that smile. That smile to let him know it was okay, but he couldn't hear her. He didn't want to hear here at the moment he just wanted to see her. It was so much better of an image instead of having found her the way he did. Decorated in her own red blood and not in the sun ray's glow as she was with the penetrating sun cascading into Brady's room.  
  
Brady awakened from his moment when he noticed Chloe was following Mimi as they exited his room. Millions of questions swirled his mind but all went back to one possible answer. A dream. He was simply dreaming but then he spoke up from his dream. "Where are you going?"  
  
Chloe looked at him confused. She had noticed his estranged expression when he found her in his room earlier but now she was becoming worried. Brady never slept this late and he carried a vibe of mixed emotion with him. The fact he got up from his bed the way he did was a mystery. How could he not remember sleeping like that? Realizing he was still staring like a lost child, she answered him, "I'm going to finish helping the others move my stuff into the loft…"  
  
And then it all faded out for Brady. She was just NOW moving in! She hadn't move in some days ago, she was moving in today with the same outfit she wore the day she did move it. He stopped listening and started caring as to if he was dreaming why did things feel this real? The embarrassment, the chill of air that hit his penis, and the feelings of warmth he felt from his bed…  
  
"BRADY!" Chloe shouted loudly. "Get it together, your losing it."  
  
"I'm sorry," Brady said so softly. He felt so bad, he remembered last night. He remembered his wish and realized if it came true this was his second chance. His second chance to solve the case of her death. But there was something strange that made him think…  
  
A kiss was placed on his left cheek, at some point Chloe walked over to him and held him. "Brady what's wrong? You seem so out of it. Are you still worried about the last hospital visit?"  
  
Brady was jolted by the touch of her tender lips. He had longed for them the minute her death set and the day he watched her body being lowered in a casket as a police officer kept a helpful eye on his as he mourned. Even then his mourning was watched, nothing about him was private once news spread of her death. The depictions of her body changed from each paper. And the accounts of false witnesses coming forth to these reporters about the deal with their relationship. No one knew of their relationship really. Not until they wanted certain people to know. One supporter they got that they never figured was Phillip. He stood behind them and then one day he was killed in a tragic car accident. The only one who died. Mimi took over for what Phillip was doing, she and him had been dating. But something about their relationships spelled out an unseen unhappiness by Phillip. He didn't seem to be into being with Mimi.  
  
"Brady," Chloe whispered into his ear again. She had began snuggling against his shoulder. Swaying her head to the melody of his heart. Caressing his back side to set him to ease. And humming a melody that always calmed his nerves and helped him to relax. Holding his one hand gently and making small circles with he thumb lightly. She smooth away the bad and showed anew good for each swirl. "I love you so much," she spoke into the air that sailed to his ear wistfully.   
  
A tear wanted to penetrate his eyes. Brady knew he was going to alter the past. He had already done so the minute he woke up so late. He just hoped that it wouldn't keep the killer from trying to make their move. Because when they did so would he.  
  
"I love you too, Chloe," Drawing her into an air tight hug, "God, I love you so much Chloe… I want you to always remember that. Just you, only you…" too late, tears escaladed as he spoke of his feelings. It once was so difficult but he had to make up for what he couldn't say once Chloe was in the ground. The memory kept racking his mind. But now things had changed and he'd changed in a way. Chloe moved under his arms. At first she settled in and got comfortable then he felt the familiar breathing pattern of her sleep. Her chest fell and rose against him as she rested from all the moving. She was tired.  
  
Brady smoothed down her raven locks and cherished this moment. 'I won't lose you again Chloe… I won't' he dictated to himself repeatedly. He'd made the mistake the first time but this time he would figure out what his mind couldn't remember. Moving Chloe gently he placed her head on a pillow and covered up her body with a white satin blanket. This time he exited the bed knowing his bareness and hadn't minded.   
  
Stepping into the bathroom, he decided on taking a shower to wake Brady up a bit more to what his first action should be. The first thing he wanted to do is bring forth the questions that needed answering. Like, why was it that somehow his wish was granted why it was he was brought back to this day? He could have been transferred back to the day of Chloe's murder but he'd been place almost a week back. Did something occur this day that he hadn't paid attention to the first time around? Why was it that Mimi's voice taunted him that day in court? And why was it that his mind slipped to the memory of when Phillip died?   
  
He knew that any thoughts he had were a buildup to the key. But one question Brady knew he would never fully be able to answer was what happened that day when he showed up? What was it that he saw? Something happened besides seeing Chloe's bodies down on the ground of his loft dead. It was something that he forced himself not to remember and whatever it was, it would be solved today…  
*******  
  
By the time Brady came out of the shower Chloe had awakened from her short nap and in her lap lay her diary. Then there lay another notebook that was skillfully crafted and decorated. She was writing into it when Brady found her on his bed. He walked over to her in is towel and reached down to place a kiss on her head. "Have a good rest?"   
  
Chloe kept her hand moving, having unanswered Brady question. She kept scribbling ferociously as if there was something important on her mind that she needed to write down before she forgot.  
  
"Chloe?" Brady spoke once more. And when he didn't get an answer he walked back over to her this time with a pair of jogging pants on. Her hair moved with her as she swung to each new line. Swaying and the sight of it made his heart start moving rapidly through no fault of his on. A quenching from his stomach and aching in his torso scared him. For each new step he made to her he felt a surge of pain. There was something about Chloe's diary. A secret.   
  
Brady remembered when the prosecutor gave her closing argument, '…Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, we have present you with a motive, the gun with his finger prints, and the most important thing. In death the girl speaks from the grave, hear her voice and hear the pleads she screamed in blood that night he shot her. Did you hear her? If you hadn't, you heard from her thoughts before the accident. An in depth look at something as personal as her diary. The descriptions of her every movement and daily life of him in it…'. He remember precisely that part of her argument. Had there been something in her diary that did account for Brady everyday? And what was it about the other notebook that didn't seem right?  
  
The churning of his belly began tumbling in overdrive. "Chloe," Brady whispered…, "Chloe"  
  
"YOU KILLED ME BRADY!," A deathly Chloe answered back. Her face decayed and parts of it chipped off to show through her bone. And then that's when Brady realized that the satin blanket had a blood stain on it. Soaked in blood with the diary soaked in it as well. Except the notebook which was open.  
  
Tears of blood trailed down her face as she cried soaking her diary. Her diary, her diary, her diary…  
  
Brady walked over to her and wanted to reach to touch her but something caught his eye. The other notebook was opened and flipped to a page. Brady read from a backwards angle which had written on the first line, "Journal." Picking it up the book each line outlined what Chloe did, everyday. Him and her and what they would do that day. It began to make sense in Brady's head. It wasn't the diary that was found, it was her notebook. As terrified as he felt at that moment he continued on and Chloe looked past him, she was staring at something, screaming at it. But it wasn't his Chloe.   
  
Brady reached for her diary and picked it up. The first thing he noted was the first line that read, "Mimi's been acting strange lately."  
  
Brady continued on as it entrapped his eyes, " So strange and I worry about her. She keeps putting on this face that everything is alright but inside she's terrified of something, I don't know. I have a hint as to what it might be but it's been so long since she's uttered those words. For a minute I even thought he might still be alive. Day in and day out for months Mimi had these feelings, feelings as if Phillip really wasn't dead…"  
  
Everything else was drenched in blood he noted. That was the only part meant to be seen. As Brady was about to continue further something in the book caught his eye, something he'd never knew of and then came a blood curdling scream. Looking up he followed Chloe's trail of sight. He watched amazed, there was Mimi and Chloe handling a gun. Fighting over it, when all of a sudden things blacked out and all Brady could hear ringing in his head was Chloe's screaming, the sight of Mimi with a dimpled grin, and her diary…her diary, her diary…  
  
Brady awakened this time. No longer in a dream world of his mind. He was back in his prison cell and it still was night outside. Drenched in his own sweat Brady looked down to the floor of cell. And by the bar was a package. Confused as to how it got there he got up from the bed in lagged steps and reached down to the brown paper bag. He unraveled the package and looked at it. It seemed familiar but before he gave his mind a chance to catch up to his actions he opened the book to see the title page outline why it was so familiar. In bold it read: Property of Chloe Lane…  
  
*****  
  
Standing outside of the Illinois prison a man spoke into the night winds, "Black you better know what to do with that. Because if you don't figure it out soon you will actually lose Chloe and your life at that…" 


	3. You Think You Know

Magic Before Dusk  
Chapter 2  
  
  
  
  
  
  
"Noo! I need to make a phone call! You can't do this to me," Brady screamed to the guards as they dragged him off.   
  
"Please! I beg of you let me go! Just one more day!" he said as he tried ferociously to loosen the grip the three guards had on him. Even in handcuffs was he still overpowering the three men. He had something over them that willed his determination to break free. He had to get to a phone and tell someone.  
  
As the guards struggled to force him to walk in their direction, Brady continued to be facing the opposite direction so that he could just sprint for some means of communication. To someone who would listen and know the vitality of this situation.   
  
The two guards made a silent agreement when they made eye contact to the third guard when he reached in to his pocket to obtain a sedative shot to slow down Brady's actions.   
  
Something was wrong, Brady realized when the guards stopped and that's when he knew this would be the perfect opportunity. He felt the presence of someone reaching for his wrist. The heat burned onto it as he felt his wrist being taken in by the third guard with the other two holding a side each of his arm. With the final contact made he quickly moved his arms up to snatch away the needle filled with the serum to stop him. And shooting forward in any direction he felt the needle pierce someone else's skin. Feeling the grasp of the guards almost let go he sprinted.   
  
"Stop him!," One shouted as he watch Brady pound against the door when he made it to the end of the hall. Having ran so quickly and healthy hurdles since they forgot to chain up his ankles as well.   
  
Brady shoved his shoulders into the door and felt the painful stings with each new shove. He looked into the glass window on the door and noticed it to was barred as he was tempted to bust the door open with his head. Then that's when he saw her.  
  
'What was she doing here?' was the first thing that ran through his head when he saw the face on the other side of the window. Then a car spurred away in his as the wheels spun a whirl of suspicion.   
  
"You were here last night…" Brady said so low, almost to himself.  
  
Slowly they nodded their head.  
  
"You know that I know…"  
  
She smiled a dimpled grin, devious to his words he uttered, "You'll never know…" in a taunting manner she said. With each knew breath repeating the horrid words with the same amount of emphasis to 'never'.  
  
Backing away the figure began to laugh and laugh as the window began to become cloudy till everything was to clouded to see past. The reverberation of the laugh still had the power to twilight his ears. It rang in his head. And kept ringing. As Brady slowly backed into something. Shots began ringing in his ear. One and two shots… three shots… the fourth shot. He turned around and saw himself in his loft again and staring at Chloe's deadly body. Him standing over her body with a gun in his hand this time. The police coming in soon after and finding him like that.   
  
Brady spun away from the scene and by this time the guards were back. They apprehend him quickly and placed him into a room. Feeling the loss of his legs he noticed the needle this time but it pierced his skin and now because of it he couldn't walk. All feeling from his was leg was gone, he went limp in a matter of minutes and his head began to hang as did his hair. His hair was tossed and ragged. His once sunshine golden locks were a tussled dirty blond in clumps intertwined to one another. His facial appearance was beginning to looked dumped upon as well.   
  
Trying to move his arms was of no use any more, they'd brought his body to the chamber and now they'd safely sealed his legs and arms. His necked was even bounded down just in case he tried anything. But it wouldn't matter, he'd given up. Brady looked to the glass windows that surrounded the cleanly cut room. It was the room were he'd meet his death and breathe his last breaths and think his last thoughts…  
  
They were watching, even the actual perpetrator was on the other side of the room. The room were the family would watch from as he would be pumped the shot to his final blow. Her family was seating alongside them and not knowing that they were the actual cause. That family would know not the reality of the truth of the situation. That somewhere there was a possibility of their daughter still being alive but they had settled for the other option, the option in which was fed to him but he even knew now of the truth. The truth of the matter now being he was going to die…  
  
"You'll never know," Brady sad aloud to the guard as he injected him slowly. Pressing deeper into his swollen veins. And at that moment he had admitted to himself he had failed Chloe and because of it he did kill her that day. He remained silent when his voice could have been heard. He trusted when he should have been cautious. He gave up too soon when in present time it was too late…  
  
As Brady closed his eyes once more he spoke once more, "You'll never know…"  
**********  
  
"Did you get it to him?" Belle questioned when her partner in crime returned back. They were both working for a common good and she'd silently thanked her father for knowing with something did smell right. Ever since Chloe's death she knew something was wrong. She'd had her first thoughts all the way back to the way Phillip died. He had been on his way to see Chloe and Brady. There was something urgent in his voice when he spoke to her that night. But he did never get the chance to tell them and she'd never questioned him on what it was, but whatever it was it died with him. Or so she thought.  
  
"Yeah, but are you sure he'll be able to understand the last page of her entry? And what was the note that you attached to it?" he spoke into the chilling winds. The night air was so deathly cold to the warm blood that pumped his body. He placed his hand inside his other hand and brought it to his mouth as he rubbed it. Hot air blowing down onto his palms. "Belle" he spoke softly.  
  
"Yeah," she said coming to reality. The mention of her last entry made her think as well. She'd studied it and analyzed it the minute she got over the initial shock of Chloe being dead and her brother hands being on the weapon that supposedly did it. When Nancy first gave her Chloe's belonging she decided against it but something told her to take it. Sure enough it helped, the prosecutor was wrong but Belle couldn't say how wrong until she had more proof. And she needed all the helps she could get. Most importantly she needed to know from Brady what happened that night. He held the truth to what he couldn't speak and it needed to be said.  
  
"What's wrong Belle…" he asked wrapping his arms around her. "You worried?"  
  
"I'm terrified, I just know that any day will be his last day and… I can't handle knowing I'll lose him too.," a low whimper but something had burned her ever since he'd began helping her. She never did think to ask but she had to know. "Why are you doing this?"  
  
"Belle, there's something I need to tell you," he said holding his head low.  
  
"What is it? Does have anything to do with what you know?," she questioned staring up to him.  
  
Shaking his head slowly, "Belle, I don't think Phillip is dead…" he said and she stared into his eyes to see the truth and once she did so, she passed out in his arms.  
***************  
  
Brady awakened from his second nightmare that night. And it still was night outside. He couldn't remember dozing off this time, all he did remember was skimming the pages of Chloe's diary the minute he got the package. But at some point during the reading he fell asleep. This dream was unlike the first one but still a key to what he was able to forget and unable to remember.   
  
Did he really believe Chloe was still alive? Was she alive? Did Mimi begin loosing it after Phillip's death? Was he there when Chloe was shot? How was Chloe's print and his prints found on the weapon that killed her? Why couldn't he remember? What happened that night? What was the meaning of his dreams/nightmares? From Chloe's deathly body to his being injected…   
  
"You'll never know," Brady said aloud. The person who said it and the manor they did it in. His repeating it just before he died. The more Brady thought of it the more it began to come back to him, he flipped Chloe's diary back to an entry and the last line that went unfinished.  
  
"But he'll never know, Brady might never know…" Kept penetrating and causing a line to form on his brain for each new thought that crossed his mind. What was it that Brady couldn't know that Chloe did? Her journal would have been handy at this point. Maybe knowing what she did do everyday when they weren't together. Thinking back to his dream he remembered the figure on the other side of the window. The face belonged to Chloe, but the features weren't as exact as hers. She'd favored Chloe a bit but it wasn't her. And that's when he thought further. Brady flipped back some pages in her diary. If his dreams were right, then the entry he read would have been real and not fake.  
  
The entry he read from the dream before…  
  
*Flashback*  
  
Brady reached for her diary and picked it up. The first thing he noted was the first line that read, "Mimi's been acting strange lately."  
  
Brady continued on as it entrapped his eyes, " So strange and I worry about her. She keeps putting on this face that everything is alright but inside she's terrified of something, I don't know. I have a hint as to what it might be but it's been so long since she's uttered those words. For a minute I even thought he might still be alive. Day in and day out for months Mimi had these feelings, feelings as if Phillip really wasn't dead…"  
  
Everything else was drenched in blood he noted. That was the only part meant to be seen. As Brady was about to continue further something in the book caught his eye, something he'd never knew of and then came a blood curdling scream...   
  
*End of Flashback*  
  
There was something in the diary. From the dream and sure enough Brady found the entry that began with Mimi. He went on further to find what caught his eye. And it shocked Brady again…  
  
"Once a liar, always a liar. How could I know until the day I saw her at the store with golden hair and a pair of intriguing blue eyes. Her hair so long and extended past the length of mine. She seemed beautiful but her words shown through a darker light that appalled me when I greeted her. I don't know what made me walk to her but if I hadn't, I never would have known that I had a sister…"  
  
Brady read to his horror it was true. His eyes hadn't been fooled and for some reason this discovery would be the key to everything. Why hadn't Chloe told him about this? Was this what he wasn't suppose to know? He continued to read on as the questions poured onto him for each new thought as an explanation but it would all provide for one big outlet of a question, Why?  
  
"…I didn't know off hand. But soon after Phillip's accident me and her came across each other once again. For days after I remember feeling bad about his death so I'd frequently visit his grave where his father had made it know here on this great land resided a Kiriakis. I never saw his body, a closed casket memorial and I don't think I could have handled it nor did I want to allow Brady to see just how sad I was. I really need to tell him about her. She knew Phillip… that's what it was. When I went to his grave one afternoon she was there. She was indirect with how she knew him but the fact was that she knew him and she knew of Brady and the baby…"  
  
"What baby?" Brady questioned aloud. He never knew of any baby. Glancing back down to the diary he read the line again and it still stood as written. It made sense now, the dream and the doctor visit. He never asked about a doctor visit the actual day she moved in but in the dream she did and he never questioned it. Was it possible he knew something then he hadn't wanted to come to terms with?  
  
"…the more I racked my mind with questions as to how she knew the more I realized something. Mimi's suspicions scared me but could it have been true? Was Phillip alive but alive in someone else? Was this the girl Phillip found happiness with and why Mimi was never the one he could really go to? This girl favored me so strongly and maybe this was the outlet for Phillip accepting me and Brady. He'd had her, my sister, almost identical but she wasn't. He had Victoria…"   
  
Then a memory came to Brady in a flash, one evening when Chloe came in late. "So how was your day?" he had questioned.  
  
And the answer she gave with the mention of a name that wasn't Mimi's. "Well, I went out to meet Tory"  
  
"Who is Tory?"   
  
Chloe ran up on Brady and she did one of her smiles, massaged his back and answered, "You'll never know…"  
  
Brady slammed the diary. And that's when he noticed a slip of paper fly out at the impact. He eyed it quickly and recognized the handwriting, it was Belle. But it could not have been Belle who snuck in, she had to have someone help her. Brady began to read the note when a rattle came from another cell down the hallway. Then an inmate begin uttering something.  
  
"It doesn't look good for you Black…" he started and smiled from his cell before continuing, "Sound familiar eh Black? Boy, you've had a number pulled on you. And what's so funny, they did it right under your nose. Because you know what it was… they knew, you'd never know. You couldn't even notice the change when it came to you," he cackled as he laughed an echo as sinister as his intentions. Another inmate shouted for him to shut his crazy trap but Brady ran to his bars and spoke out them.  
  
"What are you talking about? How do you know me?" he yelled, "Whoever the hell you are answer me!"  
  
"Never mind the fact of who I am, the question you need to be asking is who was the girl you'd been seeing for months?"  
  
And then it finally occurred, Brady's suspicions were proven by an incisive inmate whom he'd never know. But it was there and it was true and now he'd knew a little bit more. Brady studied the diary again. The journal had a different slant to the handwriting he'd noted from his dream and Chloe's was more upright and curved. But there still was something wrong with this… And that's when Brady found it. More pages, more pages written by someone else. The pages were sticking together and it took Brady a moment to realize what it was that banded them together so tightly. Dried blood was on the ends of each page, soaking through to the book's cover. Brady ignored the diary for a second to read what Belle wrote.  
  
"Brady,  
  
I know this must be scary for you right now but me and Dad are working on this, don't you worry. We know your innocent and Chloe's actual killer is out there. I've recruited outside help since I can't ask Shawn for reasons of not wanting to mess up our renewed relationship. This must be so sad for you, you two finally getting over the obstacle of her illness and now this. To be accused of a crime you didn't commit and to not have seen the excitement on her face. I must admit that I knew Chloe was pregnant, she told me when she found out. She wanted to surprise you, we'd been setting it up together then some weeks into the planning she began changing and I knew something wasn't right. I couldn't be sure and I guess I'll never really know but when I read some entries of the diary I knew you'd know what to do with it. The changing in handwriting and most importantly the fact she has a sister that her mother couldn't disclaim when I confronted her… Do what you can with this, me and Dad are on your side and you have angels Brady. Someone is out here on your side and someone in there is too. Dad met him the day of your trial, he had been sitting next to Mimi. Who for reasons of her own seemed a bit occupied by the fellow. He's here undercover to help you since he claims to have information so listen to him and Brady, we love you, we support you and we will get you out.   
Love Tink"  
  
  
Tears soaked the letter, he adored his little sister for trying to help. But nothing would truly help until the truth was out and the truth is what was being sought.  
  
"Hey Brady," came the voice from the bar further, "I know you know…"  
  
The guy for obvious reasons was creeping Brady but he listened on and thought it was for the better that he found out as much as he could, "I know what?…"  
  
"I know you had a feeling the girl who died wasn't Chloe. You stared at her so long, that's why, the way she appeared. She was smaller at that, you had a thought Chloe might be with child, didn't you? You did. And you know something else… you knew the one girl was buried alive and now you know that about Phillip now don't you… Don't you!," he shouted angered.  
  
Crooking an eye, Brady began to shout what, but the guy spoke…  
  
"You KNEW I was buried alive! You knew! And now that slut has Chloe, that's why your scared for her! That's why you speak in your sleep! And that's why you needed to use the phone, so you could warn someone. But it's too late Brady… it is too late" 


	4. Dead to You

Magic Before Dusk  
Chapter 3  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
The jail hall grew quiet. A silent whimper echoed through it thickened walls. Slow and dank was the atmosphere as minutes beckoned to the last statement. It rewound and played through his mind each minute. Secrets weren't lies, yet the truth hurt as secrets brought pain.  
  
*Flashback*  
  
There was something in the diary. From the dream and sure enough Brady found the entry that began with Mimi. He went on further to find what caught his eye. And it shocked Brady again…  
  
"Once a liar, always a liar. How could I know until the day I saw her at the store with golden hair and a pair of intriguing blue eyes. Her hair so long and extended past the length of mine. She seemed beautiful but her words shown through a darker light that appalled me when I greeted her. I don't know what made me walk to her but if I hadn't, I never would have known that I had a sister…"  
  
Brady read to his horror it was true. His eyes hadn't been fooled and for some reason this discovery would be the key to everything. Why hadn't Chloe told him about this? Was this what he wasn't suppose to know? He continued to read on as the questions poured onto him for each new thought as an explanation but it would all provide for one big outlet of a question, Why?  
  
"…I didn't know off hand. But soon after Phillip's accident me and her came across each other once again. For days after I remember feeling bad about his death so I'd frequently visit his grave where his father had made it know here on this great land resided a Kiriakis. I never saw his body, a closed casket memorial and I don't think I could have handled it nor did I want to allow Brady to see just how sad I was. I really need to tell him about her. She knew Phillip… that's what it was. When I went to his grave one afternoon she was there. She was indirect with how she knew him but the fact was that she knew him and she knew of Brady and the baby…"  
  
"What baby?" Brady questioned aloud. He never knew of any baby. Glancing back down to the diary he read the line again and it still stood as written. It made sense now, the dream and the doctor visit. He never asked about a doctor visit the actual day she moved in but in the dream she did and he never questioned it. Was it possible he knew something then he hadn't wanted to come to terms with?  
  
"…the more I racked my mind with questions as to how she knew the more I realized something. Mimi's suspicions scared me but could it have been true? Was Phillip alive but alive in someone else? Was this the girl Phillip found happiness with and why Mimi was never the one he could really go to? This girl favored me so strongly and maybe this was the outlet for Phillip accepting me and Brady. He'd had her, my sister, almost identical but she wasn't. He had Victoria…"   
  
Then a memory came to Brady in a flash, one evening when Chloe came in late. "So how was your day?" he had questioned.  
  
And the answer she gave with the mention of a name that wasn't Mimi's. "Well, I went out to meet Tory"  
  
"Who is Tory?"   
  
Chloe ran up on Brady and she did one of her smiles, massaged his back and answered, "You'll never know…"  
  
Brady slammed the diary. And that's when he noticed a slip of paper fly out at the impact. He eyed it quickly and recognized the handwriting, it was Belle. But it could not have been Belle who snuck in, she had to have someone help her. Brady began to read the note when a rattle came from another cell down the hallway. Then an inmate begin uttering something.  
  
"It doesn't look good for you Black…"   
  
*End of Flashback*  
  
Placing the clues together, his mind continued on with it's path…  
  
*Flashback*  
  
"It doesn't look good for him," a voice whispered to someone besides them.  
  
A kind voice that was faintly remembered. His mind was blurred with visions of the night that begin these days of turmoil. He heard the your girl speak so softly and tried so hard to remember it. Why wasn't it he could put a face to it? Why was he trying to block it? It was something so innocent about the voice that made it feel corrupt. The voice underlined what he couldn't remember and why it was he couldn't save himself. Shock still racked his body from the jail cell at night  
  
*End of Flashback*  
  
Thoughts of Mimi flooded his mind, Veronica, Phillip, Belle, Belle's helper, Chloe, and the baby. Intertwined to one another. Each had a story and then there was what was happening now.   
  
"Phillip," Brady started…  
  
"I wanted to tell you guys about her… I wanted to you guys about her…" he said pained as all Brady could do was listen. "If I got to you earlier and told you, it would have never got this far. But I had to make sure I was safe. She's has help and I couldn't just trust anyone. Now it's too late. She might be dead now and the baby… the baby, I don't know."  
  
"Phillip, you've got to tell me, what's going on? I mean how much of this do you know about? Where is Chloe? What happened that night? What am I not aware of…?"  
  
"Your aware of everything and yet you shut it out, Brady… Quit denying what your mind knows and your heart won't allow. Admit that you were wrong," Phillip said trying with his might to help Brady, help him with what he blocked. It wasn't as simple as just remembering, Phillip knew the pain would be there and the realization would nearly shock Brady but some things can't be helped. This was one… of many.  
  
Brady slammed a hand against the bar, "PHILLIP! Damnit! Just tell me! I can't remember, it's not f***ing clicking, if I could remember do you think I'd be in this hell hole now!? Phillip, just explain to me… How did you get here and if you weren't dead how did it go unnoticed for so long? I mean didn't you father…"  
  
"My father didn't even know of this. But someone saved me and once I was in the clear I informed my father. He helped me go unnoticed for a long time and helped me get here tonight without no one knowing about me. All the while he searched for who did this. The cause of the chaotic mess. To think it started months before the death. It stated when Nancy gave birth to another girl… It doesn't matter now and we have to work from what we can do now. You know, I never told him, I knew the cause, but needed to protect her. I didn't do a good job since she's dead now."  
  
Brady shook his head violently, he wasn't going to make this easy. Through his words he could feel the shaken.  
  
"That b**ch," Phillip muttered loud enough for Brady to hear as far as his cell may have been. And continued on lowly, so low that it begin to sound as if he were whispering… "and that bastard of boyfriend of hers… it's all their damn fault. I can't believe I didn't see it before!" His voice grew louder and took on deeper depths leading to one final blow…  
  
"Mimi"  
  
**************  
  
He shook a passed out Belle as they still stood outside the prison. Thinking that it may have been too soon on revealing the fact he thought Phillip may be alive and now because of it he had to try to carry her somewhere safe before they were found out.  
  
"awww," a trembling moan came from her cherry lips. Slowly Belle blinked her eyes to reality and to her friend.  
  
"Are you alright?" he questioned concerned.  
  
"Yes, but I wasn't just dreaming, you did say you thought Phillip was live, right?"  
  
"Well not necessarily…."  
  
Belle sighed a relieved grunt and began to stand with the help of his strong arms, "Okay, that's good because if he was it would complicate things and lead me to suspect things or more of someone…"  
  
Rubbing his tousled hair, "Well I meant I'm more positive that he's alive and I think the someone you are thinking of is the one you should be suspecting."  
  
Belle turned rapidly around to him, "Your kidding, right? I mean it's not possible because that would mean… and he was…. And never died… for months… then she died… and her sister… and and and" it came out a mile a minute from her mouth until he hushed her raging thoughts.   
  
"Belle. Yes," he said slowly because he too knew what it meant.  
  
"But I mean why? How could she? And it doesn't make sense…"  
  
"With the way she's been acting lately, nothing makes sense to Mimi Lambert. I mean hell she married Kevin so quick and is strange… I mean not the funny type strange as once before, but the scary devious strange. She's not Lockhart."  
  
"You're right about that Jason, she isn't a Lockhart anymore…"  
  
Belle grabbed hold of Jason's hand as she got an idea and immediately ran off to what she could only describe as unburying the truth.  
  
"I've got an idea" she said in between breaths.  
  
"Yeah, that's pretty dangerous, don't you think…."  
***************  
  
Sickened to the stomach she lay in a fetal position on the cold marble floor beneath her tender skin. Which had become the treatment to harsh conditions, bad treatment, and under nourishment. The chains constrained her severely. Slowly the outside of her body decapitated to meet how she felt on the inside. Her stomach she remember, slowly massaging it. A cry is what she couldn't make for the lost innocence of her and Brady's child. Nothing could make up for the absence except her death. Where she could meet her child once again and hold her. It was a girl, possibly Isabella.   
  
"Isabella," she moaned sorrowfully. Words became to difficult to say as her throat had been dried to the scalp and deeply rooted injuries to it caused it's further distortion. Her unheard screams and un-silenced wails, her pleaded bawls for the one who did this to her to set her free with a promise to not speak of it. As it had been in the beginning but the would not give in for this is what they wanted to see. All three of them, having trusted when she shouldn't have trusted. And fell prey to the trap that had been set up since the beginning.   
  
"Except Veronica wasn't included in the part when she'd die in absence for me. Noooo, she didn't know that, now did you V?…" Chloe whispered as a destructive smile spread across her face.  
  
A noise came from the far ends of the basement and echoed as the stepped closer.  
  
"Still hanging," he said shocked and amused at the same time. He set down a tray of food besides her swollen ankle. "You know, you really should eat, just think of the harms your causing to that baby…"  
  
"DON'T YOU DARE!" She forced out with all her might…, "don't you dare go there… you and your crazy wife destroyed my hope. Is this poisoned as well?" she asked before viciously kicking the slop to his darkened slacks.  
  
He stared down horridly before replying, "You'll regret that Chloe… you will be sorry. You should be thanking me, but instead you ass like the stupid b***h that you are and placing it on my legs. Cheap slut, don't' worry. Soon you and your family will be reunited in death, I hope hell's a blast seeing as Brady might have much longer sitting on death row wondering what happened. Idiot. If he wanted to save you he would have done it months ago but you know what he doesn't you hoar!…"  
  
"Now Kevin," came a soft voice walking towards him. As a hand hung to his shoulder from behind leading to the appearance of her face, "that isn't how we treat our guest now sweetie…" as she swiftly kicked Chloe to the side of her stomach. "Well if she wasn't dead before I just cleared up any confusion in your head now, okay?" she laughed lightly then stared down.  
  
Coughing up blood and spit, Chloe spat out one last time, "Why?"  
  
Smiling, Mimi replied, "Who needs motive when your about to inherit lots of money for the pain of living in a shadow. I never could live up to you or Veronica. But as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and well that's a crock of s**t!"  
  
Chloe used her remaining strength to look up to the eyes of her friend and enemy. She never knew she had been keeping her enemy closer than her friends the whole time. If she did, it could have been prevented but now she couldn't fight the truth any more. She was dying….  
  
Her last thought were of her and Brady and the unforgotten future with Isabella…  
  
TBC…. 


	5. Truth Be Told

Magic Before Dusk  
Epilogue  
  
  
  
  
  
The judge eyed each person as he awaited the jury. Dead silence was his court room. It'd only been a week since the original conviction and now he was back retrying the same fellow. This time new jurors and new evidence. It was now more of an open shut case since this time the defendant was no longer in shock. A more pained truth echoed on his jail house clothes and chains. From afar he seemed to have a simple yet anxious gleam in his eye. Awaiting the verdict but to a man who'd known the pain of a lost child he'd now owned the wanting of death. Because of the bad investigating and being wrongfully accused he's truly lost everything. Shaking his head he turned to the left where the jury was coming back from debate after only a 5 minute lapse of time and all stood.  
  
The noise level in the court arose but only for a brief second before surrendering to quiet to hear…  
  
"We the jury find the defendant Brady Victor Black acquitted of all charges and …"  
  
Everything else was drowned out by the cheering in the court room. Except Brady, he couldn't share in the excitement as much as Belle, Shawn, Jason, Phillip, John, Marlena, Abe, Bo, and all who came in support of him.   
  
"Order, order" the judge said. "For immediate release, the court owes you Brady Victor Black a formal apology although we can't back the time or absence you have we can only say sorry and offer a small amount considering the priceless amount you've lost. I hope that in time you can forgive, having not forget but to move on and know that not all is over. There is a circle as your mind might be in it's own turmoil you can always start anew with an endless circle always spurring away. And with that court dismissed."  
  
John was the first to greet his son. Stepping over he hugged him with all his strength as tears shed, "It's finally over son, its finally over."  
  
"It'll never be over, Dad… They never found her body and Kevin is still loose somewhere, Mimi being sentenced to death doesn't make up for the loss I've known. It never will…" saddened Brady admitted to himself as well as his father who knew what his son was saying.  
  
Phillip walked up to Brady, looked him in eye and knew of each other's silent thank you, forgiveness, and loss.   
  
"Justice knows no other besides herself," John told his son. "She can not see the victim as clearly as you and I. Nor can she see the innocence. Or how sometimes she causes more wrong than good. For that she can't see since so much power is placed in her hands."   
  
Nodding he accepted and wiped tears from his weary eyes. Placing a false smile on his face, "I just want to go home now. But not back to the penthouse, I'm not ready…"  
***********  
  
Brady Pub  
  
  
  
Family and friends gathered to take part in the surprise celebration for the recently released Brady. To lift up his spirits since it was quite evident he could care less about being free now. Maybe at the original setting it might have helped but now it was a lost cause now that any hopes of Chloe still being alive had been diminished by Mimi's testimony. In which she came forth with some truth. And backward answers, caught up in lies gave more way to his innocence.  
  
When Brady arrived to the Pub he immediately went in with his smile he'd become to master. Greeted, hugged, and shook hands with people excited about 'justice being served.'   
  
Looking around to the familiar faces Brady soon realized one was missing, "Where is Phillip?" he questioned to Belle who had been seated by him, along with Jason and Shawn.  
  
Noticing herself she answered with her shoulders. Staring towards Jason and Shawn for some type of confirmation.  
  
"I think," Shawn began as he took a sip from his Pepsi, "he left town for awhile. You know to clear his mind and relax with everything that has happened. I guess he waited around to make sure Brady got set free then left."  
  
"You know it's interesting when you think about it. But eh, it doesn't matter now…"  
  
"What's that Jason?" Belle asked.  
  
"Well you know how we figured out that the prints on the gun did indeed belong to the victim, Chloe's sister Veronica. But Phillip said someone helped him escape his death somehow. When I first heard that I suspected Veronica but she was too busy illumining Brady with the fact she was Chloe. Then there's the unknown fact of where Kevin went. Mimi's too hush hush about the whereabouts of anything but something is telling me she was screwed over."  
  
Brady ears perked up, "So where are you going with this?"  
  
"Nowhere since it's just all a theory and nothing can be proven. I mean you remembered struggling with the gun with her and her coming forth with all the accusations plus the ultimate truth you'd basically been cheating on Chloe and…" Jason soon realized he was retelling Brady of what he wanted to forget so he grew silent and hung his head low for in shame of what he'd done.   
  
"Where's Brady!" Came someone entering the Pub.  
  
Jason soon recognized the voice as did the others and turned to the commotion, "jan…" he whispered confused.  
  
Jan spotted Brady past the wavering hands blocking her further entry. She needed to get by and say something, needed to move past. "Brady! Brady! I need to talk to you," she yelled from the door. "Let go of me, it's important!"  
  
Brady shook his head and couldn't even deal with it until he heard what he could only hope was a dream.  
  
"Phillip has Chloe!"  
********  
  
Phillip sat aboard the company jet and smiled at his achievement. After paid off Kevin he immediately went to his victory. His Chloe. She was always the one. Veronica nor Mimi could ever replace her and now he had her. No one had suspected a thing, and it had been so simple. So easy. Mimi wouldn't say anything since she didn't know of anything more than what she and Veronica had done. All had played into his hands and never knew they were being toyed with the whole time.   
Holding an unconscious Chloe in his arm he placed a hand on her swollen stomach. Despite Mimi's attempt the baby had survived due to the helpful thinking of Kevin. It was his luck that Kevin was skilled and heavily knowledge. Even though Chloe didn't help with not eating. All was well now, no more living in the past as he'd have his trophy and Brady never know. Just his own suffering.   
  
Rubbing her stomach once more, "I'll raise you as if you were mine", he declared and fell into a peaceful sound sleep as his own nightmare had come to an end. Chloe was once his again…  
  
******  
  
Maggie and Hope allowed Jan's barging in once the words fell from their mouth. Victor turned to the commotion as well when he heard his son's name being spoken. Brady stood and walked over to Jan. Each step pieced together leading to the ultimate truth. Not following his own words, having trusted when he shouldn't have trusted.   
  
"It was a set up from the beginning, it all happened when Phillip did some digging into Nancy's past and he schemed this up himself. I know because Kevin was secretly seeing me. And now I don't know where Kevin is but I know he's well of wherever he went and Phillip is gone with Chloe…."  
  
Eyes watering, hope rising, pained face etched into a child sparked gleam.   
  
"Where did he go?" Brady asked. Jan shook her head and Bo spoke to her in the corner once Brady rushed to his grandfather.  
  
"You're a** is mine, uncle,' Brady thought wickedly.  
  
*********  
  
6 months later  
  
Chloe lay side by side from her hospital bed with Brady. The two lay snuggly together as he cupped their daughter in his arms. Delivering Chloe with a fevered kiss he urged her on to do more. Knowing the doctors wouldn't allow it he stopped as he stared down to his daughter.  
  
"Jasmine Isabella Black," Chloe pronounced. Having extracted a part of Jason's name and taking Belle's name for the middle.  
  
"Jasmine," breathlessly Brady gushed. Who'd think he'd be here. So much had happened that night but in one night magic occurred. And it had been like magic when Chloe stood before him in the dusk of a dream he'd never forget. And to his uncle he'd never forgive.   
  
His heart was like Chloe. Strong, beautiful, loving, and most importantly all hers.   
  
"I love you, Ms. Black" he smiled to her.  
  
"I love you too, Mr. Black" she whispered tiredly.  
  
"I was talking to our baby, MRS. Black, but I love you all the same as well."  
  
Smiling, Chloe fell into a sleep only a love so worthy, so pure could only know.  
  
  
  
The End. 


End file.
